Page 79 of Brody
“Was it?”He reached up, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear, the gesture achingly gentle.“Because it felt like more than that.”
I couldn’t lie to him.Not now.Not after almost losing him.“I can’t lose you,” I whispered, the admission feeling like jumping from a cliff without knowing the depth of the water below.
His eyes never left mine.“You won’t.”
“You don’t know that,” I said, fear making my voice sharp.“The venom, your pre-feral symptoms—you’re not immortal, Brody.”
“No,” he agreed.“But I’m yours.If you want me.”
My mind scrambled for defenses, for reasons why this was a terrible idea, for all the ways he could hurt me again.
But my heart, so carefully guarded for so long, had made its decision the moment I’d seen him collapse on that forest path.
“If you fucking live through this,” I said, my voice rough with emotion, “I’m going to claim you, wolfie.”
Something like wonder dawned in his eyes.“Is that what it takes for you to claim me?Me almost dying?”
I choked on a laugh that was half sob.“Yes, apparently.I can’t imagine my life without you in it.Not anymore.”
His smile was slow and beautiful despite his weakened state.“I can’t wait to be claimed by you, Dr.Dhahabu.”
I leaned forward, pressing my forehead against his.“Then you better not die on me.”
“Not a chance,” he murmured, his breath warm against my lips.“I’ve got too much to live for now.”
We lay there before the fire, the immediate danger passed, but recovery was still uncertain.His body was warm against mine, the mate bond a tangible presence between us, no longer denied but not yet fully embraced.
Tomorrow, we would continue to the COL, collect the samples we needed, find a cure for the unmated males.But tonight, in this Fae dwelling with its healing waters and magical stones, I’d found something I hadn’t been looking for.
Something I’d spent years pretending I didn’t need.
Home.
CHAPTER18
BRODY
I woke to the scent of coffee and something sweet, pancakes, maybe.For a moment, I simply breathed, cataloging my body’s condition before attempting to move.The venom’s fire had subsided to a dull ache, centering around the six claw marks that crossed my torso.They’d begun to heal, pink scar tissue already forming where yesterday there had been open wounds seeping toxic green fluid.
The blanket nest was empty beside me, Rozi’s warmth and scent lingering on the pillows.My wolf whined, missing her proximity.After I’d nearly died in her arms, being separated by even a few feet felt wrong.
I turned my head, finding her across the Fae dwelling, fully dressed and moving with precise efficiency around the small kitchen area.She hadn’t noticed I was awake yet, and I took the moment to study her.Even in simple hiking clothes, she was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen.The memory of her determination as she’d dragged me through the forest, her fierce refusal to let me die, her hands steady despite her fear, burned in my chest, a different kind of fire from the venom’s poison.
Mine, my wolf growled through our mental link, and for once, I didn’t argue.
She reached for something on a high shelf, her shirt riding up to reveal a sliver of mahogany skin at her lower back.My mouth went dry.Even after nearly dying, my body responded to her with embarrassing immediacy.My cock hardened against the blankets, the ache of desire somehow overriding the lingering pain of healing wounds.
When she’d held me in the healing pool, her body pressed against mine, her arms keeping me from slipping beneath the water… I’d been in agony from the venom, but even then, I’d been acutely aware of her bare skin against mine, the perfect weight of her breasts against my back, her breath warm against my neck.
“I won’t let you die,” she’d growled, the words more animal than human.“You are mine.Mine.”
Those words had been my anchor when the venom tried to drag me into darkness.Those words had given me something to fight for when every cell in my body had screamed for surrender.
And last night, after the danger had passed, the way she’d looked at me in the firelight, fear and fury and something deeper she still wasn’t ready to name, had stolen my breath more effectively than any poison.
“I can’t lose you,” she’d whispered, as if the admission had been torn from somewhere deep and vulnerable.For years, I’d dreamed of hearing words like that from her lips.Now that I had, I was terrified of doing anything that might make her take them back.
The movement of sitting up caught her attention, her head snapping toward me with startling speed.
